Recently, while various sorts of electric appliances are mounted on vehicles and the like, these electric appliances are connected to each other by employing line-shaped members in which a plurality of wiring lines and a plurality of communication lines are bundled by employing such binding members as a insulation lock, and such protecting members as tapes. Furthermore, such restricting members known as cramps are provided at edge portions and intermediate portions of such wire harnesses in order that these wire harnesses are connected to the electric appliances, and/or fixed to vehicle bodies.
Normally, a wire harness provided with such restricting members is distributively arranged on a predetermined portion, while being deformed from an initial shape of the wire harness under which this wire harness is expanded on a jig plate up to a final shape of the wire harness which may depend upon a shape of a vehicle body and various sorts of interfering articles. The respective portions in the final shape of the wire harness are brought into a rotated condition with respect to the same portions in the initial shape thereof. For instance, in such a case that the restricting member mounted on the predetermined portion of the wire harness corresponds to an elongated hole type cramp, or the like, distortions and stresses are continuously applied to the restricting member and the portion of the wire harness on which the restricting member is mounted.
Under such a circumstance, for example, in order to previously investigate durability and the like as to a restricting member which is mounted on a wire harness and the wire harness itself, one related calculating method proposes a method of calculating a rotation angle at a predetermined portion of the wire harness in a final shape thereof by utilizing a computer. However, such a problem could be revealed in the related rotation angle calculating method, since the rotation angle is calculated by merely considering only predetermined measuring points in the initial shape and the final shape. This problem will now be explained with FIGS. 11A to 11C and FIG. 12.
FIG. 11A to FIG. 11C are diagrams showing three typical patterns which may possibly occur when wire harnesses are deformed from initial shapes thereof to final shapes thereof. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing measuring points in both the initial shapes and the final shapes by employing vectors shown in FIG. 11A to FIG. 11C. It should be noted that for the sake of simple explanations, although the initials shapes are assumed as linear shapes, these initial shapes are not limited to the linear shapes.
In a first pattern shown in FIG. 11A, while an elongated hole type connector 1s mounted one edge of a wire harness, which is shown by Ps is rotated by an angle θ1, this connector 1s is lifted up to such a position indicated by Pe in a linear manner, and thus, the wire harness is deformed from an initial shape Ws to a final shape We. In this case, the other edge of the wire harness is located at a fixed point P0.
Also, in a second pattern shown in FIG. 11B, while an elongated hole type connector 1s mounted one edge of a wire harness, which is shown by Ps is rotated by an angle θ2 (=360 degrees−θ1) along a left direction, this connector 1s is displaced up to such a position indicated by Pe2, and thus, the wire harness is deformed from an initial shape Ws to a final shape We2. In this case, the other edge of this wire harness is located at a fixed point P0. A portion of the wire harness is deformed in a ring shape in accordance with the displacement of the connector 1s as described in the above manner.
Also, in a third pattern shown in FIG. 11C, while an elongated hole type connector 1s mounted one edge of a wire harness, which is shown by Ps is rotated by an angle θ3 (=360 degrees+θ1) along a right direction, this connector 1s is displaced up to such a position indicated by Pe3, and thus, the wire harness is deformed from an initial shape Ws to a final shape We3. In this case, the other edge of this wire harness is located at a fixed point P0. Since the connector 1s is displaced in the above-described manner, a portion of the wire harness is deformed in a ring shape.
In the above-described first pattern to third pattern, the initial shapes Ws of the wire harnesses are commonly equal to each other, and directions of the connectors 1s in the final shapes are equal to each other. In this example, the directions of the connectors 1s in the initial shapes Ws are expressed by a vector Vs; the directions of the connectors 1s in the finals shapes We1, We2, We3 are expressed by a vector Ve1, a vector Ve2, and a vector Ve3, respectively. Also, when starting points of the respective vectors are moved to an origin “0” on an X-Y plane, these vectors may be represented as shown in FIG. 12.
As shown in FIG. 12, all of these vectors Ve1, Ve2, Ve3 are made completely identical to each other. As a consequence, even when the rotation angles in the first pattern to the third pattern are calculated respectively by merely paying an attention only to the predetermined measuring points in the initial shapes and the final shapes, the actual rotation angles θ1, θ2, θ3 cannot be correctly acquired. Precisely speaking, even when an angle defined between the vector Ve1 and the vector Vs, an another angle defined between the vector Ve2 and the vector Vs, and also, an another angle defined between the vector Ve3 and the vector Vs are calculated by employing a vector inner product, since all of the rotation angles obtained from the above calculations are made equal to each other, the actual rotation angles θ1, θ2, θ3 cannot be correctly calculated.
In other words, the final shapes of the first pattern to the third pattern are not reflected onto the rotation angles which are calculated in the above-described manner. As a result, eventually, the distortions and the stresses occurred on the restricting member such as the connector, and also, the portion of the wire harness where this restricting member is mounted, cannot be correctly investigated.
In FIG. 11, only these three typical patterns are exemplified. Furthermore, such a final shape of a wire harness may be alternatively provided which has been rotated two, or more turns to be deformed. Also, practically speaking, such a rotation angle in a three-dimensional space may cause such a problem. These examples may be similarly considered as the problem of the above-exemplified two-dimensional plane.
As a consequence, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a rotation angle calculating method of a wire harness, a rotation angle calculating apparatus of the wire harness, a recording medium storing rotation angle calculating program, which can precisely calculate a rotation angle having a rotation direction.